Kengo Kuma & Associates

The Audeum

The Audeum 

Kengo Kuma & Associates

The Audeum
© Yongbaek Lee

SIGN DESIGN
Nippon Design Center

CONSTRUCTION
Kcc E&c

TEAM
Kengo Kuma, Sungyeon Won, Shoki An, Yi Ji, Jeongwon Kim, Hiroyo Yamamoto(Cg), Yuzuru Kamiya(Model), Masafumi Yukimoto*, Yuya Mori*, Sayaka Shimizu(Model)* Former Staff*

ILLUMINATION
Lighting Planners Associates

COOPERATION
Ni Steel, Kozo Keikaku Engineering

PHOTOGRAPHS
Yongbaek Lee, Lee Namsun, Taiki Fukao

AREA
11009 M²

YEAR
2024

LOCATION
Seocho District, South Korea

CATEGORY
Museum

The Audeum
© Lee Namsun

Text description provided by architect.

The Audeum (Audio Museum), located in Seoul/Gangnam, is a museum that goes beyond the traditional concept of a museum.

It is a place where you can not only see but also experience sound firsthand.

Moreover, it is not just a place to listen to sound; it is an architectural instrument that returns humans to a natural state, allowing them to experience the five senses of the body.

The Audeum
© Lee Namsun
The Audeum
© Lee Namsun
The Audeum
© Lee Namsun

The exterior design uses vertically overlapping aluminum louvers to create changing shadows, where light and shadow meet between the louvers, producing a beautiful effect like sunlight in a forest.

The use of aluminum pipes mimics the changes in natural light, randomly arranging the pipes to harmonize natural disorder and order, emphasizing the beauty of light that changes according to weather, time, and season.

Additionally, the bright aluminum pipes envelop the entire building, allowing the exterior to show new expressions according to the seasons, incorporating the random characteristics of the urban environment and nature into the architecture.

The Audeum
© Yongbaek Lee
The Audeum
© Taiki Fukao

The interior of the exhibition rooms uses wood, adopting a detail we call 'wood drape,' which differs from typical wood finishes, emphasizing the softness and naturalness of the wood.

The exterior, with its hard aluminum, transitions to the soft material of the wood inside, creating a gradual shift from the exterior to the interior.

The Audeum
© Taiki Fukao
The Audeum
© Lee Namsun

The wood finish is designed with acoustics in mind, creating a space that stimulates human senses and fosters a sense of closeness to nature.

The Audeum (Audio Museum) is a space where you can experience not only visual elements but also sound, light, wind, and fragrance, engaging all the senses.

This place, where you can experience a new sensory world, goes beyond a museum, providing a special healing and sensory experience. It is destined to become a symbolic place of the new era.

The Audeum
© Yongbaek Lee
The Audeum
© Lee Namsun


The Audeum
© Taiki Fukao
The Audeum
© Lee Namsun
The Audeum
© Yongbaek Lee


The Audeum
Plan - Basement 02
The Audeum
Plan - 1st Floor
The Audeum
Plan - 2nd Floor

The Audeum
Detail Facade Plan


The Audeum
Section 01
The Audeum
Section 02

The Audeum
Elevation 01
The Audeum
Elevation 02


The Audeum
Detail Ceiling Louver Section
The Audeum
Detail Ceiling Louver Diagram


The Audeum
Sketch 01
The Audeum
Sketch 02
The Audeum
Sketch 03

Kengo Kuma & Associates
T +81 3 3401 7721 F +81 3 3401 7778
Kengo Kuma & Associates
2 Chome-24-8 Minamiaoyama, Minato City, Tokyo 107-0062, Japan